Improvement in heating-device for chairs



UNITED STATES PATENT Fries,

C. S. HUNT, 0F PARISH OF TERREBONNE, LOUISIANA.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent'No. 78,742, dated June 9,ISGS.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, C. S. HUNT, ofthe parish of Terrcbonne,and State ofLouisiana, have invented a certainnew, useful, and Improved Contrivancefor W'arming Purposes; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and. exact description of the same, reference being had tothe annexed drawing, making a part of this specification.

My invention has for its object to provide a cheap and portable means ofwarmi ng in and as to those places or situations in which astove,iireplace, or other usual method of producing heat, cannot with safetyor convenience be used; and it consists simply in heating the seat of achair, stool, or other like thing, by the agency of a jet ofburning-gas, conducted by a flexible tube underneath the same, or hysome equivalent substitute for said jet. lVIy invention is, in fact,founded upon the longascertained and settled physiological fact, that ifthe lower part of the human body, embracing, as it does, the lower endof the spinal column, be kept warm, the extremities, to wit, the feetand hands, can never become uncomfortably cold.

In order to make my invention available in the attainment ofthe endsought for, it is requisite to make the seat of the chair or stool, orother thing that is applied to analogous uses, whatever may be its name,of soapstone or some equivalent substance, or else, when the same isalready in a finished state, or of ordinary construction, to introducean inferior or lower plate or slab, of some material of strong radiatingproperties, just below the seat, so as to produce the same eiiectwithout bringing the lower part of the body of the person who sits uponit into actual contact with the object on which the burning gas directlyacts. And in order, furthermore, to make the action of the flame of gasor its equivalent more pronounced and decided in its effects, I proposeto use a reflector, in the form of a hollow invetted cone, within which,near the truncated apex of the same, the gas-j et is placed, to reflectthe diverging rays of heat in an upward direction, and thus to bringthem into contact with t-he seat or underlying plate, as the case maybe, and so utilize the whole of the heat that is evolved from said jetor its substitute. I propose, furthermore, in adapting my in- Vention tothe use of invaiids or very aged persons, in whom the circulation ofblood is inactive, to make the upright parts that constitute thesupports of the back, as well as the arms of the chair, in such manneras that the heat will extend into them, in order to warm the backs andarms, as well as the lower parts of the bodies .of such persons. In suchform of construction, and, indeed, under many other conditions, it mightbe expedient to substitute for the inverted-cone reiiector a pendentencircling screen or curtain, that need not in all cases be of metal,around the whole space covered by the seat of the chair, and extendingto a greater or less distance below the fiame of gas, or such substitutefor it as may be employed. As applied to beds, lounges, or similarresting places, my invention would be equally useful and beneficial toinvalids, the very aged, or even to persons whose means are too limitedto enable them to procure a sui'licieney of fuel or bedclcthing to keepthem comfortable during the long nights of the winter season.

There are still other adaptations and uses to which my invention may bereadily applied, but those I have indicated are enough to demonstrateits immense value, alike as an economic and as a humanitarianinstrumentality.

My invention will be clearly understood by reference to the drawing,which is a representation ot it in the form of an ordinary chair, atlFigure l, in perspective, and at Figure 2, in a transverse sectionalview.

As shown upon the drawing, A represents the ordinary seat of a chair,which may be, we will suppose,of open-work cane,except around its edges,or ot' any other material whatsoever. .I ust below the seat A is theplate B, which we may suppose to be composed of soapstone, or of metal,or of any other substance possessing strong radiating properties, towhich, as shown, is attached the inverted funnel'shaped reflector C.Within this reflector, at a point a little above the line at which theapex is cutoff, as clearly shown at Fig. 2, the jet of gas or thesubstitute for it is placed or located. that a sufficient supply of 5airfor supporting combustion inside the inverted conical relector C mayenter the said retlector,the apex of the same is cut oft' in such manneras that a considerable open space shall surround the In order gas-pipeor lamp, as the case may be, as shown on the drawings, through which theair may freely pass, or, if this be not sufcient, minute perforationsmay be made at any suitable point in said reflector to subserve suchpurpose. It will be seen from this arrangement that the divergent raysof h eat will strike upon the upwardinclined surface of this refiectoras they radiate from the burning gas, and be reflected against the plateB, to be by it absorbed for transmission to that part of the body of anyperson seated upon thel seat A that is in contact therewith.

A simpler arrangement would be to apply the reflector directly to aseat, of soapstone or other equivalent substance, for in that case theplate B would not be required.

A mere glance at the drawing` will indicate the modus operandi of myinvention without special description, and also that it localizes theheat or warmth that is created by it in s uch manner as to confine itexclusively to the specilic object of communication with that part ofthe body which, being warmed, warms the whole system.

I am well aware .that footstools, such as Alonzo Palmerspatentcorrugated sheet-metal footwvarmer, foot-stoves for travellers, andthevfor a certain space of time, but my invention is a fundamentallydifferent thing, and I expressly disclaim these,'as w'ell as all similarcontrivances; buthaving fully described my invention, and pointed outits peculiar characteristics,

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A chair, constructed substantially'as herein described, that is to say,provided with the metal bottom, and the combustion-chamber, adapted toreceive a gas-jet or its equivalent, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

C. S. HUN'R/ Witnesses:

RUiUs RQ RHODES, C. WV. VVAILEY.

